Argument analysis: The trail, the pipeline and a journey to the center of the earth

[Elderberry]

SCOTUSblog by Noah Sachs 2/25/2020

Environmental groups faced a skeptical bench during Monday’s argument in two consolidated cases, U.S. Forest Service v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association and Atlantic Coast Pipeline LLC v. Cowpasture River Preservation Association, as they fought to preserve a 2018 decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that had halted an $8 billion, 600-mile natural gas pipeline. At the heart of the dispute is a 2017 permit granted by the U.S. Forest Service to allow the Atlantic Coast Pipeline to cross the George Washington National Forest. The permit also authorized the developers to tunnel 600 feet beneath the Appalachian Trail within the forest. Vacating the permit, the 4th Circuit held that the entire 2,100-mile Appalachian Trail is part of the National Park System and therefore, under the Mineral Leasing Act, the trail is off-limits for energy development and pipeline rights-of-way.

At oral argument, a majority of justices appeared inclined to reverse the 4th Circuit. There was no clear consensus on the grounds for reversal, however, and we could see several opinions released this spring. The case involves multiple complex statutes enacted over 60 years and a bewildering array of arguments about plain meaning, context and congressional intent. Remarking on the statutory arguments on both sides, Justice Stephen Breyer said, “The statutes, you know, it’s like ping pong … they have this, you have that.”

Several justices seemed inclined to rule on narrow grounds and avoid the statutory morass about the precise legal status of the Appalachian Trail. The narrow basis for upholding the permit would be that the National Park Service’s administrative authority, even if it does cover the entire trail, does not extend to the proposed pipeline tunnel that would cross perpendicularly 600 feet beneath the trail.

The justices engaged deeply with the question of how deep toward the center of the earth the Park Service’s authority goes. “When I think of a pipeline that is 600 feet below the surface, that doesn’t seem like a trail,” Justice Samuel Alito said. “So instead of having to draw this distinction between the trail and the land, why can’t we just say that the trail is on the surface and something that happens 600 feet below the surface is not the trail?”

More: https://www.scotusblog.com/2020/02/argument-analysis-cowpasture/

[thackney]

No pipelines may cross the Appalachian Trial?  And at 600 ft undergound who could tell.

And in other related news, it is already crossed many times: